Gail ‘Yovanna’ Momplaisir admitted to her role in Snakegate and exonerated Cynthia Bailey on Sunday’s final reunion episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Snakegate dominated season 12 of the Bravo reality show as Cynthia, 53, tried to determine who allegedly recorded her saying hurtful things about NeNe Leakes, 52.
Yovanna came clean during the reunion in which NeNe was absent after leaving her laptop unattended during the at-home production.
‘I’m here to clear my name,’ Yovanna said as she implicated NeNe for requesting the recording.
‘Not only did she ask me to record Ms. Cynthia Bailey, but she told me she wanted me to record every single body that’s sitting right here. She wanted proof that everybody else is equally talking s*** about her the way she talks s*** about everybody else,’ Yovanna declared.
Yovanna claimed that NeNe in a bid to silence her had sent ‘text messages, harassing phone calls from blocked numbers, and even a cease and desist from her attorney.’
‘In her cease and desist, her attorney’s verbiage was that I needed to destroy any alleged audio that I might have on her that would portray her in a negative light or defame her character,’ Yovanna said.
‘I don’t know where she got that information from, I’ve never recorded NeNe. But clearly she’s afraid of the truth coming out here today,’ she added.
Kenya Moore, 49, who clashed with NeNe the entire season noted the absence of her nemesis and said, ‘She ran scared’.
Yovanna explained to the women that she let her ‘loyalty’ toward Nene ‘get a little bit too far’.
‘In the beginning… she was the one that was showing me the most love, she had my back. She saw that I started hanging out with the ladies and started establishing genuine friendships that she wasn’t in a position anymore to do. And she saw it as an opportunity to find out if anyone was talking s*** about her,’ Yovanna said.
She said that NeNe ‘wanted proof of conversations’ but the request to secretly record people ‘went against my moral being’.
‘But because she was so pressed and thirsty for more information, I basically told her what she wanted to hear,’ Yovanna said.
Yovanna said she allowed NeNe to believe that she actually recorded Cynthia but she really didn’t.
‘Obviously, that’s something I would never do,’ she said.
Porsha Williams, 38, was skeptical of Yovanna, who previously denied involvement in Snakegate.
‘You admitted that you basically made up the story about the snake, you made up the story like you’re doing now. … If you saw that NeNe didn’t have your back [before], why didn’t you bring all of this up then? Why wait so long to come back now?,’ Porsha wondered.
‘I was still trying to protect her,’ Yovanna countered.
Kandi Burruss, 44, was equally upset with Yovanna for pretending to befriend them while working on behalf of NeNe.
‘You’re saying that [NeNe] was being strategic, using you as a pawn to go around and get everybody’s trust to tell you stuff so you can run it back to her — you willingly did that, Kandi said.
‘And that’s what annoys me …because we genuinely though that you were trying to reach out and hang out. … That is not cool,’ she added.
Yovanna pointed out that her presence was a sign of accountability.
‘It’s interesting that NeNe is not sitting here,’ Yovanna said.
Cynthia also pointed out that NeNe’s absence was meaningful.
‘This is what I see: If Yovanna’s over here lying and made all this up, why would NeNe not be here to expose Yovanna? The fact that Yovanna’s here and NeNe chooses not to be here is all I need to see. I have no other choice, but I’m going to have to go with Yovanna at this point,’ Cynthia said.
NeNe during the episode tried to call in, but Andy refused to take the call since her laptop was still running.
It was later relayed that NeNe would no be returning because she was not being shown the proper amount of respect.
The Real Housewives Of Atlanta premiered on Bravo in October 2008.
